U.S. gets pathogens from ex-Soviet republic

September 03, 2005|By Jeff Zeleny, Tribune correspondent

BAKU, Azerbaijan — More than 60 dangerous and deadly bacterial strains that are a legacy of the former Soviet Union's elaborate biological weapons program were transferred Friday to the United States from Azerbaijan as part of the two countries' joint fight against the threat of biological terrorism.

Copies of the strains, including bacteria that cause plague and anthrax, left Baku aboard a U.S. military aircraft in a mission cloaked in secrecy. The pathogens were scheduled to arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware by Saturday, officials said, and government scientists will begin their analysis next week in Washington.

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who concluded the agreement here with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, said the data would be "important in the war against terror and combating biological warfare." The sharing, Lugar said, also adds fresh and unique strains to a library of worldwide pathogens to help swiftly diagnose an international plague or prevent a disease outbreak.

The transfer of the strains is part of the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which the U.S. has used to forge relationships with former Soviet republics to reduce nuclear, chemical or biological threats.

The U.S. formalized a biological agreement with Azerbaijan in June. Under the deal, the United States provides money to help the country improve security for its pathogens to prevent theft that could lead to bioterrorism.

In exchange for the aid, Azerbaijan agreed to share copies of its strains with the U.S., which could prove helpful in the event of anthrax attacks similar to the mail contamination nearly four years ago in Washington and New York. Those cases remain unsolved.

"I see this as proof that Azerbaijan is serious about cooperating with the United States on combating global terrorism," said Andy Weber, adviser to the Cooperative Threat Reduction program at the Defense Department.

During the Cold War, the U.S. believes, thousands of scientists were creating a huge Soviet biological weapons program. While Russia has denied having such an extensive program, the country has declined to share its biological strains and has urged former Soviet republics not to share their pathogens.

So the strains from Azerbaijan, along with an agreement reached late last year with the government of nearby Georgia, allows U.S. scientists to learn more about the Soviet-era biological weapons program. Previously it could take scientists days to determine the origin of a strain, officials said, but a growing global library of pathogens could reduce that time considerably.

Fearing the arrangement might collapse, U.S. officials said the transfer of the pathogens was timed to coincide with Lugar's visit so he could secure the support of President Aliyev. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who was traveling with Lugar to learn about nuclear and biological threats, also discussed the strains over dinner with Aliyev.

Shortly after Lugar and Obama left Azerbaijan on Thursday, the pathogens were packaged in a container about the size of a large camping cooler. They were secretly taken to the airport, where a captain from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research was waiting to transport the strains back to the U.S.

Jennifer Brewer, the U.S. cooperative threat manager for biological weapon programs in Azerbaijan, said the transfer was complicated slightly when airport officials in Baku insisted the strains go through the airport X-ray machine. But fearing the radiation could damage the pathogens, Azerbaijan government ministers granted a special waiver.

The pathogens were flown to a U.S. air base in Germany before their scheduled arrival in Delaware. The materials will be analyzed by the U.S. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington.